Parent-Directed Shared Reading

With this type of shared reading experience, you, the parent, are guiding your child throughout the story by asking instructional questions. First you start off with asking your child about the pictures in the book. Then you build to asking questions about letters and literal events that take place in the story. After your child is building momentum, ask questions that are more open ended, and relate it back to your child's life.

Below is a list of a series of ways to engage in parent-directed reading, from most simple to most complex, so you can pick an approach that is appropriate for your child's age and stage. We also provide some example questions to get you started.

1. Parent reads story to child without interruption.

2. Parent reads story to child, pausing to ask questions about the pictures on the page.

(“Oh, what do you think is happening here? What is the gorilla going to do?”)

3. Parent reads story to child, pausing to ask Wh- questions about the text on the page.(“What letter does this word start with? Who was sleeping?”)

4. Parent reads story to child, pausing to ask open- ended questions about what the child thinks will happen on the next page or in the future.

(“So the gorilla let other animals out of their cages. What do you think all of the animals are going to do now?”)

5. Parent reads story to child, pausing to ask open- ended questions about how the story relates to the child’s own life and experiences.

(“Does anything about this story remind you of when we went to the zoo?”)